Michael

“For, this film about one of the greatest entertainers and pop stars of all time exists happily in his Neverland, to never take a peek at the dark side. Director Antoine Fuqua known for his action films, and screenwriter John Logan...deliver you Michael Jackson the sequinned performer, and barely touch upon Michael the child who never had a childhood, Michael the adult who never grew up, Michael the alleged child abuser who could not shake off the charges.”

“The Michael Jackson biopic presents the pop legend as a human being, someone who was both a victim of his surroundings and a fighter against them. Full credit to Fuqua and debutant Jaafar Jackson for truly bringing MJ back to life on screen. This is as much a tribute as it is a celebration of his life, music, and ideology.”

“The film doesn't uncover the full truth but emotionally connects. In the love language of consumer ratings, I suspect, Michael would've been a three-star movie, even before it got made.”

“Michael is quite a sanctified biopic of the greatest pop icon, Michael Jackson. At the centre of it all is Michael Jackson's nephew Jaafar Jackson in his debut role, delivering a performance that feels less like imitation and more like possession. The film does not soften its portrayal of the patriarch; instead, it positions him as the architect of both Michael's greatness and his fractures.”

“Michael is not a bad film; it is just a very superficial one, which leaves a bad taste in your mouth. The script gives the film one central conflict, that of Michael with his father, Joseph, and it all ends up in the classic abusive father kind of thing we have seen before a million times... but it is not compelling enough. Michael is an okay movie; it isn't bad, but it isn't good either.”

“Rammed with every music-movie cliche, an almost mute supporting cast and a Michael who only produces endless smiley blandness, this is a frustratingly shallow film. But this is a frustratingly shallow, inert picture, a kind of cruise-ship entertainment, which can't quite bring itself to show that Michael was an abuse victim, brutalised by his father and robbed of his childhood.”

“Michael remains a passable biopic that looks good, sounds great, and delivers the moments fans came for. But it also feels formulaic in a way that's hard to ignore. For those hoping for a more thoughtful biopic, Michael settles into a safe retelling of familiar beats, playing out more like a glossy, carefully curated Wikipedia page.”

“Jaafar Jackson is electric, but the movie is not.”

“Feels very strongly like a cynical moneymaking machine. In its ploddingly boring biopic-by-numbers way, Michael's success was predestined, written in the stars, entirely inevitable. Hugely impressive musical and dance performances from the two young men playing Michael Jackson cannot shake off the uncomfortable fact that there is an entire other side to the pop star's story which is entirely conspicuous by its absence here.”

“Ranjit Jeyakodi's Michael has brilliant frames and music, which fail to save the wafer-thin story.”

“Director Antoine Fuqua and screenwriter John Logan don't exactly break the mold with Michael, nor do they stuff it with major revelations. But they tap into a vein of melancholy underlaying the stratospheric success that's surprisingly affecting. Simply as a celebration of Jackson's songs and stagecraft, it's phenomenal, shot by Dion Beebe with visual electricity in the performance sequences.”

“Jaafar's casting might have seemed a bit too all in the family, but the fact that he doesn't do his own singing didn't bother me, because this guy channels Uncle Michael in uncanny ways and simply sells this performance with all the right dance moves and sharp dramatic talent to make us believe Michael Jackson is once again with us. This Michael is the film fans will line up for more than once, a chance to see this genius up close and in Imax like never before.”

“Jaafar Jackson did a great job, but the film is a 'whitewashed' depiction of the pop icon's life that presents a clichéd and incomplete portrayal.”

“'Michael' is a genre movie trying too hard to look the part and unfortunately, it shows. While it may believe that it is an homage to the action heroes of the norm, it ends up merely being a formula film that severely falls short of successfully emulating all the tropes it relies so heavily on to be taken seriously at all.”

“Michael is a labour of love that, at times, feels too laboured and tries hard to impress. Despite an earnest effort by its actors and the technical team, the film falls short of finding its own strong voice in the melee of gangster dramas we have seen in the last decade.”

“While Jaafar Jackson eerily brings his uncle to life, one can always go online for a touch of MJ magic, as the film is so vanilla that it becomes completely disengaging. The King of Pop, who gave us so many hours of joy, deserved far more than what the usually gifted Fuqua gives him here.”

“Antoine Fuqua's biopic of Michael Jackson is too reverential and has nothing original to say. The film is too sanitised, bland and flat, with a script that is frustratingly shallow and does not take an interest in digging beneath the surface.”